Wrench.



J J. 0. DETHLEPS & W WISNER.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION I'IL1 D APB. 16,1910.

967,889. Patented Aug.23, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. 0. DETHLEFS AND WILLIS WISNER, 0F CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON.

WRENCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN J. O. Dn'rrrnnrs and VVILLIs VVIsNnR, residing at Chehalis, in the county of Lewis and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that form of ratchet wrenches in which an oscillatory handle having a spring pawl or dog, cooperates with the jaw or head stock, and it primarily has for its object to provide a wrench of the character stated, of a simple and economical construction and in which the pawl device is so designed and mounted that the user can, by thumb pressure, during the action of using the wrench in places and under positions where it is impossible to use the common types of monkey or socket wrenches, quickly adjust the pawl and hold it released from the ratchet while swinging the handle to get a new leverage or purchase on the nut gripped by the jaw head.

Our invention consists in the peculiar construction and novel arrangement of parts, all of which will be hereinafter fully described, specifically pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l, is a perspective view of our invention. Fig. 2, is a side elevation thereof, the pawl or dog being shown as thumb pressed and moved out of engagement with the ratchet edge of the jaw. Fig. 3, is a perspective view of the jaw. Fig. 4, is a similar view of the lever handle. Fig. 5, is a view of the pawl or latch spring member.

In the practical construction of our improved form of wrench, the same comprises, essentially, but three parts, a tapering handle or lever 1, in practice, about twelve inches long, the upper end of which is bifurcated to form portions 1010 that are apertured to receive the pivot bolt 2, secured by the nut 3.

L designates the nut engaging head stock, comprising the opposing jaws 40-40 and the segmental shank 41 of a reduced thick ness, relatively to the jaws, whose lower or peripheral edge has ratchet teeth, said shank also having an aperture axial of the ratchet edge for receiving the stud or bolt 2.

5 designates the pawl or dog for engaging the ratchet edge of the head stock and which, in our arrangement, is in the nature of a latch spring, it comprising a long shank 50 that lies against one edge of the lever or handle 1 and is secured to the handle by two small screws that fasten through the lower end of the shank.

The upper end of the shank is widened and is thickened to form a dog or pawl portion, the upper end of which is beveled to an inverted V-shape for seating into the correspondingly shaped ratchet teeth.

At the base of the pawl or dog portion the member 5 is of a reduced width so as to increase the resiliency of the shank at such point, and further to render it convenient for engaging the pawl end of the member with the thumb or finger, to press against the said member in the direction of the arrow, see Fig. 2, and the pressure action being facilitated by forming the handle 1 with a concavity 12 at one edge, as clearly shown in the drawing.

By reason of forming the member 5 as shown and the handle with the concavity 12, a simple and effective means is provided whereby the pawl or dog 5 can be quickly and positively released from the ratchet, it being apparent that by increasing the reslliency of the shank of the pawl or dog at the base of the thickened or head portion, as pressure is applied against the member 5 it will readily buckle or bend back at that point, see dotted lines Fig. 2, and cause the pawl to be disengaged from the ratchet, at

which position it can be easily held while the user oscillates the handle to position it for effecting the desired gripping of the jaw, it being understood that under the ordinary use of the pawl, by reason of its restricted neck portion, it easily slips over the ratchets when swinging the same to get a new hold on the said ratchets.

By forming the handle with concavity and the member 5 with the conveXed-like enlargement, the pawl end is buckled or bent back out of contact with the ratchets by pressure of the thumb on the member 5, as indicated in Fig. 2.

In practice, different sizes of jaw head stock members 4 may be interchangeably used in the bifurcated end of the lever by simply removing and re-adjusting the pivot bolt and nut. I

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. In a wrench, the combination with the handle, a head stock having nut engaging jaws and a segmental ratchet shank pivotally mounted on the upper end of the handle; of a spring latch pawl fixedly secured at one end to the handle, its other end engaging the ratchet pawl, said latch pawl having its greatest resiliency at a point just below the ratchet segment of the head stock.

2. A wrench of the character described, comprising the following elements in combination; a hand lever having a bifurcated and apertured upper end, and a concavity.

in one edge below the bifurcated end, a head stock having nut engaging jaws and a segmental ratchet shank, said shank having an axial aperture, means for pivotally mounting the shank in the bifurcated end of the lever, and a spring latch fixedly secured at one end to that edge of the handle having the concavity, the free end thereof being thickened to form a pawl for engaging the ratchet shank of the head stock, said spring latch having a portion extended over the concavity in the handle, said portion of the latch having the greatest resiliency whereby to facilitate buckling the latch member at such points to release its pawl end from the ratchet shank.

JOHN J. O. DETHLEFS. WILLIS WISNER.

Witnesses:

G. E. HAMAKER, JOHN COLEMAN. 

